The Commerce Department’s National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today said a new, high-tech
climate monitoring network, designed to track the nation’s temperature
and precipitation trends, is now operating in 28 states. The U.S.
Climate Reference Network (CRN), developed by NOAA scientists, will
improve the ability of America’s decision-makers to form policies
about programs impacted by climate variability and change.

"The
climate reference network helps us fill an important land based gap
of data in the United States that we will need in the larger and more
comprehensive Earth observation system being developed by more than
34 countries in what could be the next 10 years," said retired
Navy Vice Adm. Conrad
C. Lautenbacher, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans
and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “With important links
like the CRN, the Earth observation system will help address emerging
global issues and lay the groundwork for improved environmental decision-making
and economic growth and prosperity.”

With more than $3 trillion of U.S. GDP
affected by climate and weather, including the agriculture, energy,
construction, travel and transportation industry sectors, there are
powerful economic as well as environmental incentives for gaining
a greater understanding of these phenomena. The United States has
already made significant investments in space and in situ or surface-based
observing systems, including its ability to monitor the ozone layer
using spacecraft and aircraft and the TAO/Triton Array of buoys that
have helped forecast the most recent El Niño six months in
advance. The CRN will provide the United States new data points in
a swift and affordable manner.

“The CRN will give America a first-class
observing network for the next 50 to100 years that will serve as a
benchmark for climate monitoring,” said Gregory W. Withee, assistant
administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service.
He made the announcement at a press conference at the American Meteorological
Society’s annual meeting in Seattle.

Currently, there are 46 CRN stations
deployed in 28 states. Additional deployments for the next two years
are scheduled at a rate of about 27 each year. Officials said a total
of 100 stations are planned throughout the rest of nation by 2006.
The Climate Reference Network became operational following months
of testing.

NOAA’s Geostationary Operational
Environmental Satellites transmit the data received from these ground-based
stations in near real-time to the NOAA Climatic Data Center (NCDC)
in Asheville, N.C. NCDC posts the observations online (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/uscrn/)
in near real-time to users around the world.

Withee added that the network will help
national government and industry decision-makers shape policies that
are affected by changes in America’s climate.

“The CRN will give us more answers
to the changing climate. It will provide future long-term observations
of surface air temperature and precipitation that can be compared
to past long-term observations to better detect any climate variability
and change.”

He said the network underwent a rigorous
testing and evaluation phase in 2003 to verify that it was ready for
installation and operation. After two years of testing and calibrating
sensors, a pair of observing stations was installed in the Asheville,
N.C. area.

The basis of the network can be credited
to Thomas Karl, NOAA’s director at NCDC, who proposed 10 climate
principles that were adopted by the National Research Council. These
principles include: extensive information on instrument status and
health; local conditions around the station; assessing changes in
the network on monitoring climate variability and change; freedom
of access to the data and supporting information.

Karl said a crucial aspect of this network
is that all stations are located in fairly pristine environments to
help eliminate local human influences from confounding the interpretation
of any observed changes in climate. Most of the 50 states, including
nine large-scale climate regions, are represented in the network.
The observing stations will be established at locations sensitive
to climate change, and placed at or near stations having long-term
historical climate records.

NCDC
oversees the science component and the selection of the sites with
help from the NOAA Regional Climate Centers. The NOAA Satellites and
Information Service Office of Systems Development in Silver Spring,
Md., is managing the field operation and maintenance of the network
and the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory’s Atmospheric Turbulence
and Diffusion Division at Oak Ridge, Tenn., is developing and installing
the instrument suites. Issues related to science requirements of the
network are presented to external scientists and stakeholders.

NOAA’s Satellite and Information
Service is the nation’s primary source of space-based meteorological
and climate data. It operates the nation’s environmental satellites,
which are used for weather and ocean observation and forecasting,
climate monitoring and other environmental applications, including
sea-surface temperature, fire detection and ozone monitoring. NOAA’s
commercial licensing program draws on NOAA’s heritage in satellite
operations and remote sensing applications.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic
security and national safety through the prediction and research of
weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship
of the nation’s coastal and marine resources. NOAA is part of
the U.S. Department of Commerce.